Music stops after 5-6 seconds

[Jud]

0.9z-6-1: PC through an AQ Dragonfly (set at 24-bit when >16, because XX told me so after I tried 32-bit).  Lovely music from a 16/44.1 CD rip for about 5 or 6 seconds, then it fades out.  Once in a great while it will keep playing, but with numerous "skips" (playback will frequently jump ahead several seconds).

Could this have anything to do with still being in demo status?  If not, should I just wait and see it if goes away with -7?

[PeterSt]

Jud, hi there,

Wait for 0.9z-7 ? maybe. But it would be a weak offer.

This looks like a buffer issue. Did you engage Kernel Streaming Special Mode perhaps ? if so, choose Adaptive and retry.

If not, try so change the Device Buffer Size and/or (but not at the same time) Split File Size (SFS) (to extremes) and try to detect a difference. It may not solve the problem, but the number of seconds may change. So let me know and hopefully we can proceed from there.
Btw, I never heard of such a thing. But there's always a first for everything.

Regards,
Peter

PS: A warm welcome here.

[Jud]

Jud, hi there,

Wait for 0.9z-7 ? maybe. But it would be a weak offer.

This looks like a buffer issue. Did you engage Kernel Streaming Special Mode perhaps ? if so, choose Adaptive and retry.

If not, try so change the Device Buffer Size and/or (but not at the same time) Split File Size (SFS) (to extremes) and try to detect a difference. It may not solve the problem, but the number of seconds may change. So let me know and hopefully we can proceed from there.
Btw, I never heard of such a thing. But there's always a first for everything.

Regards,
Peter

PS: A warm welcome here.

Thanks, glad to be here.   

So actually there was no Kernel Streaming at all.  Had it set on Speakers (AQ Dragonfly), because when I'd tried Kernel Streaming Normal mode I got no sound at all.  SFS and Device Buffer size changes had no effect - 5 or 6 seconds of music, that was it.

So I decided to try KS Adaptive Mode, since you'd suggested that, and success! 

Went on to try Special Mode, and liked the sound better, but unfortunately I always eventually get distortion at some point during a song, even with Q1 at max (30).  This is with the device buffer set at 256, which is the lowest I could get in Adaptive Mode at Q1=0 without dropouts. 

Any sound quality reason to try setting the device buffer higher and trying Special Mode again?

[PeterSt]

Special Mode sounds (and works !) different than Adaptive Mode anyway, so yes I would try that.

But it seems strange to me that actually in both WASAPI and KS Special Mode you seem to have a similar problem (after some time things collapse). I'm not sure I ever heard about such a thing.
What system (PC/OS) are you using for this ? (it's a good thing to put some of the key stuff in your sig)

[Jud]

Special Mode sounds (and works !) different than Adaptive Mode anyway, so yes I would try that.

But it seems strange to me that actually in both WASAPI and KS Special Mode you seem to have a similar problem (after some time things collapse). I'm not sure I ever heard about such a thing.
What system (PC/OS) are you using for this ? (it's a good thing to put some of the key stuff in your sig)

So to tie things up in a fairly neat package:

- I went back to WASAPI and switched the Q1 settings between 14 and 1, but left alone Device Buffer Size (now at 512, then 4096) or SFS (now at 430, then at 2).  Now I cannot duplicate the problem regarding no sound after 5 or 6 seconds - it always plays through.  So who knows....

- After changing device buffer size from 256 (Q1=0 with no dropouts) to 512, I was able to use KS Special with no problem (Q1=14).  SFS as above.  Sounded far, far better than Adaptive mode or WASAPI - in another league as regards emotional impact and everything that goes into it, like nuance, detail, correct timbre, transient response....  This would be the only way I'd consider using XXHE unless for some reason it simply didn't work.

-- Well, maybe not so neat as all that.  With special mode, got very touchy when I added cover art, as often as not full of "static"/dropouts and unplayable.  Did even worse when I tried to play WAV rather than FLAC - never did achieve tolerable playback free of dropouts for even one second.  Adaptive mode worked for everything.  I like special mode better, but how to get it to work all the time in stable fashion?

[PeterSt]

Jud,

Do you mean that the dropouts occur during the physically adding of coverart ? (like using Exlorer for it etc.)
Or do you mean that you switched on the coverart functions and that since then things went downhil ?

If the latter, something should be seriously "wrong" with your disc subsystem. Could be a heavily trashing disc (because of very scattered data - disc almost full ?) or could be anything else.

If the former, then this is not sooo much strange, but it will depend on many other things. Point is, we shouldn't do these things during playback anyway. But for example, just opening a (coverart) picture in the standard picture viewer (double click the picture etc) is enough to receive a severe click. Usually and not always for me.

But before I'm speculating too much ... which is it ? or otherwise ?

Peter


PS: Notice that you should be playing unattendly for the best SQ. Depending on the "which is it", I'm not sure whether you are doing that.

[PeterSt]

And after reading your sig, if it is about physically adding, be sure it isn't your SSD which doesn't want to write ... (common problem, but a bit depending on other situations again)

[Jud]

Jud,

Do you mean that the dropouts occur during the physically adding of coverart ? (like using Exlorer for it etc.)
Or do you mean that you switched on the coverart functions and that since then things went downhil ?

The latter.  (Of course - with me, nothing can ever be the simplest answer.)

If the latter, something should be seriously "wrong" with your disc subsystem. Could be a heavily trashing disc (because of very scattered data - disc almost full ?) or could be anything else.

I would guess "anything else," because all discs have plenty of room.  But I put the cover art in the same folder as the music, on the external FireWire HDD.  Didn't bother (of course) to read about where it should actually go.  Is having the cover art on the external drive with the music all right?  Should I try other placements?

PS: Notice that you should be playing unattendly for the best SQ. Depending on the "which is it", I'm not sure whether you are doing that.

Haven't tried playing unattended yet.  I am in the early stages of experimenting with settings, so getting rid of the UI would just require another step to call up the UI again when I wanted to change something.  But if I get special mode to work reasonably well, I will then play unattended.

[PeterSt]

Then it would be my suggestion that your Firewire is taking too much resources.

But do you hear the ticks etc, only when new coverart is in order ? If not :

For fun, try to organize the Library Area such that only over album shows in there (drag the middle pane small enough and/or set the picture size large enough so only one fits in there).

Otherwise notice that you will (most probably) solve the problem by using Galleries (these will be local and now the Coverart will come from there). But don't use this to solve the problem yet.

Lastly, take care that the Player Prio is set to the lowest setting and the Thread Prio to the highest.

Let me know what happens ...
Peter

[Jud]

Then it would be my suggestion that your Firewire is taking too much resources.

But do you hear the ticks etc, only when new coverart is in order ? If not :

For fun, try to organize the Library Area such that only over album shows in there (drag the middle pane small enough and/or set the picture size large enough so only one fits in there).

Well actually everything I described happened with only one album and one album cover loaded in XXHE.  So I suppose I have already fulfilled this condition.   

Otherwise notice that you will (most probably) solve the problem by using Galleries (these will be local and now the Coverart will come from there). But don't use this to solve the problem yet.

Lastly, take care that the Player Prio is set to the lowest setting and the Thread Prio to the highest.

Let me know what happens ...
Peter

Will do.  Interesting, I notice Mani's sig says he's using adaptive mode.  Best SQ, or some other reason, I wonder?

[PeterSt]

NOS1 setting.

[Jud]

Otherwise notice that you will (most probably) solve the problem by using Galleries (these will be local and now the Coverart will come from there). But don't use this to solve the problem yet.

Lastly, take care that the Player Prio is set to the lowest setting and the Thread Prio to the highest.

Let me know what happens ...
Peter

Began with Galleries; then Unattended; then WAV instead of FLAC; then Minimize OS; finally, the priority adjustments.  Galleries made it possible to use Special Mode.  Each change after that produced another gain in sound quality.  No stability problems now, and very happy with the sound.